Blog Posts by Dr. Rasika Rajapakshe

Hello, Dr. Rasika Rajapakshe here with my final blog post as the BC Cancer Foundation’s guest blogger! Today, I’d like to share some of the benefits of our current research and the challenges we plan to tackle in the future. Innovative Technology My passion for research is fueled by the long term differences and improvements we can make in cancer patient care. The development and use of MammoQC , our digital mammography quality-control system, ensures that mammography equipment across B.C. is functioning safely and properly. As mentioned in last week’s blog , our EBRT collision detection...

In addition to supporting our early detection research efforts, BC Cancer Foundation donors have also supported summer student internships and clinical software. Student Internships Student internships are opportunities for university students to gain hands-on experience in cancer research.Our Early Detection Research Group has been fortunate to secure a number of studentships over the years to further our research efforts. Our first student funded by the Foundation, Stephanie Ruscheinsky, focused her work on analyzing women’s risk factors for developing cancer. I’ve always thought of these...

BC Cancer Foundation donors have been staunch supporters of our early detection research efforts at the BC Cancer agency since 2007. A few of the projects mentioned in last week’s blog were funded by the generosity of Foundation donors, including: breast density calculation software, graphics processing hardware (GPU) used in gaming industry for medical applications, the development of a biostatistics infrastructure at the BC Cancer Agency Sindi Ahluwalia Hawkins Centre for the Southern Interior, and external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) simulation software. Notably, the Foundation co-funded...

Hello, Dr. Rasika Rajapakshe here and I am glad to be back for Week 2 as the BC Cancer Foundation’s guest blogger! Today I will be touching on my work at the BC Cancer Agency and our Early Detection Research Group. I am currently a Senior Medical Physicist at the BC Cancer Agency Sindi Ahluwalia Hawkins Centre for the Southern Interior. My work focuses on the planning of radiation treatments for cancer patients: ensuring that radiation beams are delivered in the correct location to effectively treat the disease while minimizing the damage to surrounding tissues. I also work with the Screening...

Hello! My name is Dr. Rasika Rajapakshe, and I am honoured to be this month’s guest blogger. During my time as an undergraduate student in Sri Lanka, I planned on pursuing a degree in elementary particle physics. However, my time in university also showed me the importance of helping others, and that my work and actions affect those around me. I decided that I wanted to have a positive effect on people. I knew that the field of health care was centred around helping people, but I was also passionate about physics – I wanted to find a way to bridge my two interests together. And so, I moved to...